A record number!
It’s amazing what a tab off of a can of soda pop can do. Recycled pop tabs have brought in over $14,000 a year to the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Memphis. The charity takes donated tabs to a local recycling center to turn them into cash.
About three years ago staff and students at Sacred Heart School in Southaven, Miss., decided to start collecting the tabs for the charity. A student from the school was being treated at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. The families of many who are treated at St. Jude’s receive assistance from the Ronald McDonald House Charities. The house is often a “home-away-from-home” for out-of-town families with children bring treated for catastrophic illnesses.
“During the collection our primary grade students used the tabs as counters for math,” said Bridget Martin, Sacred Heart principal (and alumnus). “The older students used them for geometry projects.”
Students even used the tabs to build a replica of the Ronald McDonald House. The tabs were glued to paper bricks.
Recently the school decided that it was time to turn in their collection.
How many were collected?
Over 1 million!
Heather Nordtvedt, development director for Ronald McDonald House said that no other school had turned in so many tabs at once.
“Your collection of one million pop tabs filled 10, 32-gallon containers, totaling 806 pounds of pop tabs,” said Ms. Nordtvedt.
What could have been a million pieces of garbage became a $484 donation toward the work of the Ronald McDonald House.
“We’re so grateful for the dedication of your students, faculty, staff, parents and the community,” said Ms. Nordtvedt. “You set an impressive goal, and you made it happen!”
What’s next for students and staff at Sacred Heart School?
“Our next million tabs, of course!” said Ms. Martin.
They’ve already started collecting
